The Lord Chancellor today announced the appointment of
Professor Nicholas Hopkins as Law Commissioner for property, family and trust law.
The appointment is for an initial term of five years from 1 October 2015.
Since 2013, Professor Hopkins has been Professor of Law at the University of Reading. Before this, he spent 15 years at the University of Southampton, most recently as Professor of Law.
Before joining the University of Southampton he was a lecturer in Law at Durham University (1993 to 1998) after beginning his career as a Research Assistant at the Law Commission (1992 to 1993).
Professor Hopkins’ particular interest lies in the law as it applies to land and his publishing portfolio boasts a number of land and property related titles. He is co-author of the OUP’s leading land law textbook,
Land Law: Text, Cases and Materials, case notes editor of
The Conveyancer & Property Lawyer, and Chair of the editorial board of
Modern Studies in Property Law. He has served as Convenor of the Property and Trusts Section of the Society of Legal Scholars and has twice received the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ award for Best Property Paper. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Welcoming Professor Hopkins, Chairman Sir David Bean said:
'I am delighted that Professor Hopkins is joining us at the Law Commission, and I look forward to working with him. Professor Hopkins has an impressive academic history, and his knowledge and understanding of land and property law will be of particular value to our work. It is a special pleasure for us to welcome back to the Commission an academic talent who began his law career here as one of our Research Assistants.'
Accepting the appointment, Professor Hopkins said:
'I am very pleased to be joining the Law Commission and am looking forward to driving forward the full and significant programme of work the Commission has across property, family and trust law.'
Professor Hopkins' predecessor, Professor Elizabeth Cooke, a regular contributor to
Family Law, left the role this summer to take up the post of Principal Judge of the Land Registration Division of the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
